On 20/08/2013 16:07, William H. Magill wrote: > On Aug 20, 2013, at 5:15 AM, "Dr. Trigon" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> What about a README file instead of an URL? Was there a final decision >> made whether to docu things locally in the repo (REDAME, doxygen, ...) >> vs. online www.mediawiki.org ? > The README file for pywikipedia IS A BLOODY JOKE!!!! > > It provides ZERO information. That point technically isn't true (it gives a sentence long description of what Pywikipediabot is), but I get what you're saying. It's not very helpful at all and we should change this. How, I'm not entirely sure, because as CONTENTS says, its a description for use with the nightlies, currently. > I've been building code on the net since it was the ARPAnet and the overall > structure of pywikipedia simply flies in the face of conventions. > > Were it not for the CONTENTS file, anyone downloading the code for the first > time would be utterly lost. > > The "docs" directory is a similar joke. If the instructions contained within > it > are so straight forward, why doesn't the "Installation script" do it > automatically? > ... oh, that's right, there IS NO installation script!!! > > I first started trying to use pywikipedia on a private MediaWiki ... where > "private" > according to your definitions means NOT part of wikipedia.com. > I downloaded it from the SVN at the end of June, just before you began > converting to GIT. > > Being used to things like Perl and MacPorts, getting pywikipedia working > has been a painful experience. As a Python and PHP person, I tend to say the same about anything that isn't Python or PHP! > I am a retired Unix SysAdmin, however, when I retired in 2003, Python was not > yet > a widely used language (and git had not yet been invented). > > > Your installation instructions still do not acknowledge the fact that > "generate_family_file.py" is BROKEN.... that you CANNOT have a > "user-config.py" > file if you want to run it. > "... Before you attempt to create one using the instructions below execute > python generate_family_file.py. If it succeeds, ..." > It CAN NOT succeed if you have followed the instructions up to that point, > especially > the step immediately before it where you are instructed to build > "user-config.py" > http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Pywikipediabot/Use_on_third-party_wikis I've never had this problem, ever. I add new wikis to my Pywikipedia configuration all the time using generate_family_file.py without a problem. > The page: > http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Pywikipediabot/Installation > is simply an instruction on using GIT. > I've already updated the page: > http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Pywikipediabot/Mac > to reflect "Mountain Lion," and to reflect this problem with the instructions. > > > I realize that I'm in a severe minority here, being both a Unix and OSX > (i.e. Mac) person > in a Windows based world, but I can live with the Windows distortions as I > have been > doing for the past 30 years. > That is one reason why I have not had anything to say perviously... that plus > the fact that I just barely > have pywikipedia working for the MediaWiki I'm working on -- LOTRO-wiki.com. A lot of F(L)OSS developers including Pywikipedia developers use *NIX as primary operating systems. There are bot runners that have success on both Windows and *NIX based systems. > But if you are going to package this software to look like a "correct" (i.e. > conventional) Internet > download, you need to fix things like the README file! > > I realize also that from a developers point of view, maintaining a WIKI is a > PAIN !!!! > it is much easier to stay inside one's text editor (or whatever tool is being > used to write and modify > the code with) and to update things like the "CONTENTS" and "README" files. > But that is a choice > you have made... transferring your documentation from "standard" internet > style to Wiki style. > However, that choice implies much more work is necessary to keep the two in > sync. Maintaining any documentation is a pain, I actually find it easier to maintain a wiki however (I take no credit for the Pywikipedia documentation, it is something I tried to start some interest in cleaning up before, but nothing became of that), and it's rather fitting since this is a tool to be used with wikis. > One last point -- since you have these assorted "configure" scripts which > MUST be run before one > can begin using the product -- why not have an "install" script, which > automatically runs them as > needed. ... of course to do that, you will first need to fix > "generate_family_file.py". I wouldn't say that's really necessary, all you have to do is run generate_family_file.py and generate_user_files.py ... they are both pretty simple and quick. It's actually considerably easier than when I started using Pywikipedia, when you had to craft the family file by hand! > (I'll update the OSX instructions once I figure out how to use GIT. > Fortunately, Apple includes the GIT client > as part of OSX. ) > > > T.T.F.N. > William H. Magill > # iMac11,3 Core i7 [2.93GHz - 8 GB 1067MHz] OS X 10.8.4 > # MacBook Pro4.1 Core 2 Duo [2.5GHz - 4GB 667] OS X 10.6.8 > # Macmini6,1 Intel Core i5 [2.5 Ghz - 4GB 1600MHz] OS X 10.8.3 > > [email protected] > [email protected] > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Pywikipedia-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/pywikipedia-l
_______________________________________________ Pywikipedia-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/pywikipedia-l
